


Publicity

by spellcastersjudgement



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Alcohol, Boys Kissing, M/M, Pining, Trenchcoat discourse, Tumblr Prompt, hornetshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 15:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15197627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spellcastersjudgement/pseuds/spellcastersjudgement
Summary: Bastion has to make sure he's not hallucinating.





	Publicity

**Author's Note:**

> im actually incapable of writing anything short i think i physically must do worldbuilding for each little drabble thingy i write 
> 
> this is absolutely gay and im not ashamed lmao

#22: a kiss in a rush of adrenaline 

“Crowler is such an ass for doing this.” 

Bastion, though not given to speaking ill of professors, was inclined to agree. “Being promoted to Chancellor has certainly inflated his ego beyond repair,” 

Alexis leaned her elbows on the seat in front of her, the freshman occupant nervously looking over their shoulder and scooting forward in the chair. The arena buzzed with anticipation, everyone speculating on who would be dueling in the first official match of the year. Bastion remembered being in Jaden’s dorm room, listening to him talk about the party in their room tonight, the ‘squad’ as Jaden was so fond of calling it, planning to squeeze into their broom closet of a room and drink until the sun came up. Chazz had busted down the door, looking even more irate than usual, screaming about being roped into a duel with some snot-nosed, wet-behind-the-ears freshmen that were clearly beneath The Chazz. 

Bastion thought it was all rather adorable. When the black-haired boy was angry–more than his constant simmer of anger, because if it was the default state was it really worth mentioning?–he blushed the lightest shade of pink and spit out swear words that weren’t words per se, but left no one in any doubt of the sentiment behind them. When Bastion had dueled Chazz freshman year, had been on the receiving end of one of those rages, it was impossible to take him seriously. 

He was just too cute. 

“If Zane were here still Crowler would’ve pulled his ass into publicity stunts instead of actually teaching him,” Alexis laughed, rolling her eyes, picking at her nails. “We’re the top dueling school in the world, why do we need all of this publicity?” 

“Perhaps the fact our academic programs are gaining more attention than our dueling program,” 

“Well fuck, that’s good isn’t it, B?” Alexis snorted. “I’m tired of friends from high school getting up my ass about going to Card Game College,” 

“I don’t disagree. Remember who’s in charge here though,” Bastion watched as the seats filled. It was obvious who was a freshman because they sorted themselves into clumps of color, unaware that the dorm hierarchy was little more than a formality to most people. “Chazz will certainly provide a good show, no doubt. That’s why Crowler must have picked him,”

Though Chazz Princeton claimed to be no-nonsense, his theatrics when it came to, well everything in his life, belied him. The yelling, the trash-talking, the self-given nicknames, the chant–all perfect for the new chancellor’s half-baked plan to bring press to Duel Academy, not to mention his family name always raised eyebrows and turned heads. And Chazz, for all of his ranting that this was “totally lame,” had parked himself in front of the toothpaste-spattered mirror, stole Jaden’s hairbrush, and after painstakingly ridding it of what he called “Slacker DNA,” preened in front of the mirror, making sure every strand of his hair in place. 

“Stupid, stupid Crowler,” he’d muttered, picking at a pimple on his cheek despite Bastion’s insistence he should leave it alone. “He doesn’t–he doesn’t even know what fucking cameras to use, which side is my good side! I bet he didn’t even get a real opponent,” 

Bastion, though he barely was able to reign in the impulse, did not take the opportunity to tell Chazz he looked exquisite from any side. 

Pining was a strange feeling, Bastion reflected as Chazz sprayed himself with air freshener. Or rather, he held his arms out and instructed Jaden to spray him, turning in place, smelling more like alcohol than Pumpkin Spice but better than anything else in the dorm. His black coat swished as he turned, and Bastion enjoyed the way his eyes fell closed, the way he stood up onto his tiptoes to twirl, akin to a sarcastic dueling Disney princess, not that Chazz would appreciate the comparison. Bastion had felt bad as soon as the thought crossed his mind, but he chalked it up to the fact the brain chemicals that caused one to feel ‘love’ were messing with him. 

Those same chemicals were causing his heart to beat faster and excitement to bubble up as Chazz, or The Chazz as he so preferred, strutted into the duel arena, chin held high and his typical scowl on his face. On the other side of Alexis, he could hear Jaden leading the cheer of “Chazz it up,” finding himself soon cheering as well. The group of freshmen in the row in front of them looked over their shoulders, sharing confused glances with each other at how the majority of the student body seemed to know the chant. 

“Look at that,” Alexis stopped chanting to lean over to Bastion and point at the person walking in to the other side of the duel arena. “He’s so small–is he really old enough to be at college?” 

“Syrus is only five foot two, it’s not unheard of,” 

“Syrus also gets handed the kids menu when we go out,” Alexis said. “And at least Syrus got the proper uniform size. That kid’s drowning in his damn trenchcoat,” 

Bastion only ever seen three people wear Obelisk blue trenchcoats in his time at the academy, and one of them had swapped theirs out for a ratty black one that had gotten him in trouble several times before the professors realized he could give a flying fuck about the dress code. Zane and Atticus, the top students at the school before their graduation this past spring, had made trenchcoats synonymous with high level dueling ability, which was ridiculous because they had never set out to do that. Bastion could attest, as the number-one ranked student (academically, that is, Jaden was the best for dueling of course), that a trenchcoat would not have helped him. And it certainly wasn’t doing any favors for this runt of an opponent, who was surreptitiously looking down at his feet, making sure he didn’t step on the hem. 

“Chazz it the fuck up!” Jaden jumped up, waving around a Duel Academy water bottle that most certainly did not contain water. 

The Chazz saw his roommate–actually, plural now because Syrus was leaning heavily against Jaden’s side, taking a sip from the same water bottle and slurring the words of the cheer–sticking up his middle finger with a glare so intense Bastion would’ve shrunk under it. Jaden laughed, of course, and Syrus shouted obscenities that Bastion never thought he would hear out of his mild-mannered friend. 

“Sit down, you slackers,” 

The phrase was so distinctly Chazz that Bastion was surprised the vice chancellor was now speaking, his voice booming through the microphone, contrasting his small size. He was also wearing a trenchcoat. Bastion would have to write some formula detailing the height of a person (or lack thereof) and how likely they were to wear such a ridiculous thing. 

Chazz would be excluded from this formula, of course, because Bastion was almost as fond of his coat as he was of Chazz. He couldn’t have his feelings taint his findings. 

“The trash-talking is limited to the participants. If certain members of the audience can’t keep their mouths shut for the duration of the duel, I will personally see they are punished,” Bonaparte continued, nearly tripping over the cord of the microphone. 

Jaden and Syrus sat down, but that didn’t stop Syrus from much more quietly saying choice words. 

Whatever was in that bottle, Bastion might need to ask for some. 

“Welcome to our first official match of the school year: Chazz Princeton versus incoming freshman Reginald Van Howell–the only freshman to make it in to Obelisk blue this year and the pride of his dueling prep school!” 

“That just means he’s a carbon copy of Chazz at the beginning of last year,” Alexis rolled her eyes and crossed her legs, leaning back in her seat like she was already bored. “Chazz is gonna wipe the floor with this little shit,” 

“He better,” Jaden popped in. “if he loses I owe the guy down the hall a hundred bucks,” 

“You don’t have a hundred dollars to your name, Jay,” Alexis said. 

“All the more reason for Chazzy-Spazzy to win,” Jaden said, tipping more of god-knows-what type of alcoholic beverage down his throat. “That’s gonna be our beer money for tonight,” 

This time last year before he knew how incorrigible Jaden Yuki was, Bastion would have admonished him for betting money he didn’t have. He didn’t waste his breath this time. “If Chazz wins, be sure to buy the higher-quality liquor from your supplier,” 

“Bastion, why do you always have to make it sound like I’m buying heroin or something? Also I totally will because I don’t wanna hear his constant bitching tonight,” Jaden sat back in his seat. “Duel’s starting, duel’s starting–here’s hopin’ I didn’t just fuck us all over tonight!” 

Chazz drew his first card, and Bastion was hopeful as well. Hopeful that Chazz would win not so Jaden wouldn’t land himself in trouble with whoever was this year’s designated bookie for the Slifer dorm, though it would be preferable for their alcohol fund to increase by a hundred dollars, but so he could see the elusive Happy Chazz, akin in rarity to Bigfoot. He would smile, a genuine one, not a sarcastic or mischevious smile that Bastion also loved, and he would laugh and not complain about Jaden hugging him and sometimes, just sometimes when Bastion would congratulate him, the black haired boy would say ‘thanks, Bas.’ That nickname, which was used my all members of the friend group (with the exception of Alexis who could never get a picture of a fish out of her mind when she heard it), sounded different coming from Chazz, made his heart swell and his brain short-circuit, and he would be lying if he said he weren’t desperate to hear it. 

The duel was a quick one. Jaden only had time to make it through three cycles of “Chazz It Up” before Reginald’s life points hit zero, the freshman looking like his parents had just been murdered in front of him given the horror on his face at losing to a Slifer. Bastion rather enjoyed watching freshmen learn that the colors one wore didn’t always directly correlate to their dueling abilities, but he was now more focused on following his friends out of the crowd to get to Chazz, congratulate him on his victory, and maybe, just maybe satisfy his selfish desires to see Chazz smile. 

Jaden and Syrus were already embracing Chazz from both sides, laughing and wobbling on inebriated legs, Jaden shouting that he was buying them Goose tonight and Chazz agreeing with him instead of shoving him off. Alexis shooed them off of Chazz long enough to give him a one-armed hug. 

Chazz hadn’t seemed to notice Bastion yet. As the Ra stepped toward him, ready to offer his own congratulations, the black-haired boy looked over toward him, his eyes widening the slightest bit as he ducked out of Alexis’s hold, closing the distance between them, smiling. Bastion was confused for a moment, his words never making it out as the Slifer’s arms closed around his neck, lips smashing ungracefully against his. 

Bastion had not even allowed himself to fantasize about kissing Chazz. He had only recently come to terms with the fact he’d been pining for the better part of a year, and it would probably take until graduation for him to allow himself to consider the possibility that Chazz would return his feelings. Now, as Chazz’s arms tightened around his neck, his lips moving against Bastions, skinny frame pressed against Bastion’s muscular one, he had to consider the possibility that he was hallucinating. It was possible that something in Jaden’s dorm room had been left over the summer and rotted to the point toxic fumes were permeating the space, infecting his brain. 

Determined to see if he was hallucinating, Bastion forced his arms to relax the slightest bit from how they’d been tensed up in surprise, he hugged the black-haired boy to his chest, squeezing the slightest bit too tightly on accident, a gasp breaking the kiss as Chazz caught his breath. 

They were both standing there, in the middle of the duel arena, with hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at them. 

“Uh, um–good job,” Bastion said eloquently. 

“Yeah, uh, thanks,” Chazz said, face bright pink, the remnants of a smile on his face. 

“God fucking damn it!” 

The shout came from somewhere to Bastion’s left. An irate Slifer boy at the top of the stadium seats shouted again. “Do you know how much fucking money you cost all of us?” 

“You bitches owe me twenty-five dollars apiece!” Jaden laughed, nearly falling over. 

Chazz’s face went from serene to incensed, pushing away from Bastion to chew out Jaden for placing bets on his love life. 

At least they’d have even more money to spend on the party tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m excited to announce that I’m open for [commissions!](https://spellcastersjudgement.tumblr.com/post/174622005229/hey-yall-horrible-puns-and-cheesy-banner-aside) I also have a [Ko-Fi!](https://ko-fi.com/spellcastersjudgement) Thank you for donating/commissioning!


End file.
